I suggest a campaign about ...

We need to ensure that the UK's milk producers (ie Dairy Farmers) receive a proper return from milk processors and retail consortia.

Many dairy farmers in the UK are receiving less than the cost of production for their milk. This is unsustainable and many are being forced out of the industry. The milk processors and retail consortia are aiding and abetting this, using the excuse that it's global market prices which dictate what they pay for their milk. Nonsense - in practical terms, we can only get fresh milk from our UK farmers, so there is no reason why the UK producer shouldn't receive a fair return, including an element of profit for their investment and their labours. Another side to this is that the social fabric of our rural/agricultural economy is under threat - we don't want the Nocton type proposals to flourish here - that has already been shown in a previous campaign. It's crisis time - dairy farmers need our support. The farmers themselves are starting up a campain and it is opportune NOW for our lobbying/campaign group to provide another voice in support.

One of my clients was a dairy farmer - sold his herd last month because of the low milk prices. I believe the NFU didn't want to prevent the low pricing. They are for GM, which only benefits the multinational agribusinesses. (See campaign suggestion 'Ban GM crops from Europe. GM kills bees, wildlife and ultimately us - 'Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee colony collapse'). Notice what you hear in the media - the arguement that the only affordable way to produce milk is those mega-dairies (which will be feeding GM feed to the cows)

The Farmer's Weekly magazine is currently providing a poster on its back pages which itemizes the cost of milk production against the payment farmers receive. Such a campaign needs the support of an organization as strong as 38 Degrees. Whilst this campaign has received only 20 votes this subject is more important than many, perhaps, realise. We need to keep our farming alive, no matter what you think of farmers, as the alternative will be cheap milk coming in from the Continent. It is supermarkets that drive down these prices and they don't seem to care that such actions put suppliers out of business. We've fought and succeeded in stopping the mega-dairies with thousands of cows - let's now turn that around and support dairy farmers so that they don't need to look at the prospect of mega-dairies again and so that Britain produces and uses its own fresh milk - no imports required!